NOW WITH PICTURES!!
What does the future hold for Baltimore City? No one knows for sure. One way is to examine is to look at the past and present conditions, the other is to look at what's on the drawing board as far as new development. I will attempt to do both while at the same time throwing in my opinion. Sure, the Inner Harbor and its surrounding neighborhoods are nice, but they're aren't my focus. Check out old posts I have added pictures to them!

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Friday, September 28, 2012

I have a great fondness for Reservoir Hill so it gives me great
pleasure when new Residents email me and write in the comments field
that they have purchased their dream home in Reservoir Hill and have
restored it to glorious perfection and that they have best Neighbors one
could ask for. On the other hand, Reservoir Hill continues to lose
population, is plagued with boarded up buildings, has trash strewn about
the streets and alleys, and vacant overgrown lots. It appears that the
grassroots efforts to revitalize Reservoir Hill don't make for a net
population gain and on some streets are just a drop in the bucket in
rehabbing the gems that are Reservoir Hill's housing stock. Fear not, I
have some ideas that should pump up the volume on reinvestment in
Reservoir Hill and finally give it some net population growth.

First off, in my research of Reservoir Hill I learned that
something I thought needed to be done is actually being done;
demolishing the crime infested Madison Park North Apartments is a done
deal. I was going to suggest that the aging complex nicknamed "Murder
Mall" hit the wrecking ball because it creates a barrier between Bolton
Hill and Reservoir Hill. The draining out of this complex may be the
reason as to why Reservoir Hill as a whole lost population. Given its
close location to MICA it has been suggested that the vacant property be
developed for use as Student Housing. MICA has not however given any
interest in buying and developing the land. It is currently unclear what
will go where Madison Park North is. Hopefully the synergy created by
Station North on North Avenue across I-83 will make its way to the
Bolton Hill Reservoir Hill area.

Next we go to the opposite end of Reservoir Hill to Druid Lake.
This should be some of the sought after property in the City but it
isn't and I can tell you why in three letters; HUD. Most of the
undeveloped land HUD has a 99 year lease on which makes building upscale
housing on it a no go (like the ill fated Vistas on the Lake.) They key
to bringing in real population growth all around Reservoir Hill is
large scale development and there's plenty of land with Druid Hill Park
frontage that this can happen. What first has to happen though is HUD
must give up its lease on that land which in its current only allows for
Section 8 or public housing.

In its heyday, Reservoir Hill was home to lots of luxury Apartment
and Condo buildings. Many of these buildings are still standing but are
vacant or are otherwise in distressed condition. I think fully restoring
these diamonds in the rough and re renting and sell them as the upscale
gems they once were would help in bringing back the elegance and
stateliness that Reservoir Hill has historically been known for. It
appears that a lot of these smaller buildings were once used as group
homes more recently but have been vacated and they are now boarded up
and empty. Restoring these to their grandiose elegance will continue to
attract more population to Reservoir Hill.

Last but not least we come to what dominates the landscape of
Reservoir Hill; Row Homes. Row Homes are where the bulk of Reservoir
Hill's new population comes from. There are a lot of row homes here that
have been carefully and handsomely restored to their former grandeur.
On the flip side there are plenty that are boarded up and have been for
years. Row Homes in Reservoir Hill are very large and I think that's its
hubris. The larger the home, the more expensive it is to restore it. I
think that may have a lot to do with the fact that many of the
Neighborhoods that have gentrified in Baltimore contain smaller "cookie
cutter" row homes IE Fells Point, Canton, Patterson, Park, Federal Hill
etc. Other Neighborhoods with larger row homes like Reservoir Hill
haven't decayed like Reservoir Hill has IE Bolton Hill, Mount Vernon,
and Charles Village. In order to restore some of the homes in
Reservoir Hill, it may take a construction budget anywhere from $100k
upwards of a quarter million dollars. Keep in mind that's only
the construction budget, that doesn't include actually purchasing the
home which could be another $100k.

I have suggested bringing back the $1 row house program many times
over and I think Reservoir Hill is the perfect place to do so. Given how
expensive it will be to restore its housing stock to its former
grandeur, I think it best for new Home Owners to dedicate all of their
money towards construction. Remember these are large homes with lots of
interior and exterior details so that doesn't come cheap. That being
said, in order to buy a Reservoir Hill row home for $1 the buyer must
qualify for at least a $100k mortgage loan to ensure that the
construction is done. In some of the more dilapidated homes that loan
amount might be bumped up to $200k because they would require more
work.

Reservoir Hill has been waiting to come back big for years now and
there are new home owners moving in but there are certain things that
are keeping a mass population spike such as Madison Park North and an
excess of vacant Apartment Homes as well as views that aren't taken full
advantage of. Once these problems are eradicated, Reservoir Hill will
truly experience population growth.